New York Hated My BlackBerry Bold

This isn't a rant, nor is it a technical assessment. It's simply one CrackBerry Addict's observations of why maybe, just maybe, we have yet to see the BlackBerry Bold come to AT&T in the USA.

Short Story:AT&T's 3G Network Hates the Device. Keep reading after the jump for the full story!

Longer Story: If you're a loyal reader of the CrackBerry blogs and forums, you'll know that I purchased a BlackBerry Bold from Rogers the day after it became available (since there was no actual stock on launch day).

The unboxing went well, but from there it didn't take long to discover some glitches in the OS that Rogers/RIM shipped on that device. There were memory leaks, some weird errors, and of course my Bold's Browsers Were Royally Buggered. But after the shaky start, I found with every new iteration of the version 4.6 operating system that has been released or leaked out onto the net the device has been getting better and better and better.

When I left for NYC last Wednesday (the 24th), I was running OS4.6.0.150 on my Bold, which I had been using since the 18th of September without issue. Running on the Rogers network, .150 has been awesome compared to version .125 that originally actually shipped on the Bold - it ran rock solid (no battery pulls), managed memory pretty darn well, improved the battery life of the device (don't think it was all in my head that the battery seemed to be lasting 15 - 20% longer) and even my Bold's browsers are much improved... turning on JavaScript Support with .150 didn't kill the device and my WiFi browsers which were not working at all with .125 actually work! I think there's still tweaking being done here (so no Part II to the browser shootout just yet), but all in all with .150 the Bold to me was really turning into an awesome device.

Enter New York City: Jump off the plane at La Guardia, and within 48 hours of roaming on AT&T my BlackBerry Bold randomly rebooted itself 5 times, dropped 6 calls while talking (and 3 dropped after only one ring before I could answer) and at one point gave me an Invalid SIM Card error for no reason at all (soft reboot fixed it). Furthermore, my battery life tanked - the Bold was regularly switching between 3G and Edge which I think soaked back a lot of the juice. All in all, I wasn't happy. It wasn't the same phone that I was using when I boarded the plane, and the only thing that changed was the Network.

I couldn't help but think the symptoms above might be part of the reason the BlackBerry Bold is not available on AT&T yet. That same device on Rogers was a CHAMP... on AT&T for me it was a total CHUMP. Come Friday night after a few hours out on the town with some CrackBerry friends, I once again had the epiphany that my Bold was cursed. So I gave it away to Craig Johnston (co-host on the CrackBerry.com Podcast) Saturday morning when we met up for breakfast. Hopefully he'll have better luck with it. And now I'm back on my trusty old BlackBerry Curve 8300, which by the way, worked flawlessly the rest of the trip.

Blame Game:So who's to blame here? Based on my non-techy observations / experiences it seems that AT&T's 3G network is at the heart of the problem... there's just something about it that 3G smartphones seem not to like. Looking at iPhone 3G users on AT&T, there have been tons of complaints made about the device's performance that are not heard from other iPhone 3G users on other carriers around the world (blame Tower Drain?!). It looks like the Bold may be in the same boat... but when the Bold does hit AT&T and goes into the hands of hundreds of thousands of enterprise users (think Wall Street), it has to perform as reliably as the current generation of AT&T BlackBerry smartphones.

Conclusion: Is there hope? Word in the forums is that OS 4.6.0.162 has made its debut (and .158 and .161 are already in testing with AT&T). Hopefully they will all play better in NYC and with AT&T's 3G than .150 did on my Bold. RIM is sitting on a ton of AT&T branded Bolds just waiting to be provisioned with the final OS and shipped, but that's not going to happen until this all gets sorted. I wouldn't get my hopes up for an October 2nd release... but hopefully this horror story will be resolved soon and you will be able to pick up an in-perfect-working-order BlackBerry Bold before Halloween (Best Buy wants to start selling it on the 26th). Now that would be a treat!

Funny you mention the invalid SIM card error. I just recently started getting that nearly once a day on my N95. I've been on AT&T's 3G network for a year now and this only started happening about a week ago.

i live in New York and i to am using a Rogers branded Bold on the ATT network and i get alot of weird errors and call drops from time to time...i have since turned off 3G on my Bold and use 2G ...could anyone recoment an OS i should be running on my Bold with ATT that may fix some of these problems?
Thanks in advance to anyone who can help

I'm a born and raised, very very frustrated, New Yorker!!! I don't understand why they dont sell the Bold on the EDGE network and continue to work on their 3G issue and release it when its fixed!?? They are losing a lot of business because of delay after delay after delay....!!! Consumers that had been putting up with their old crappy cells while holding off for the Bold are not waiting anymore and are just buying other cellphones! I was wondering what the difference is between Rogers network & why the Bold work so well on it and the AT&T network!??

Just an FYI, if you want EDGE, get the curve...that's the main selling point of the bold, and also, they're not announcing delay after delay after delay, people are speculating about release dates, people need to quit faulting AT&T for not releasing a product they never put a firm date on...you're allowed to be mad they missed the summer, but dont act like they said it would be out yesterday and they missed...

And when you announce a round about date, then we have every right to be angry because round about does not mean months of delays! Especially since they announced that it was "Exclusive to AT&T"!!!! Do you see that 31!!!!! COUNTRIES!!! Have the Bold!!! Thats ridiculous!!!! Freakin' Turkey has it!!! Yet, the USA, land of some of the best & newest technology cannot get this freakin cell to work here!!!!! WTF!!!!!

I was in Chicago about a week and a half ago and BOY !!! my Bold was choking. Thought maybe because i flew in from a different altitude, humidity etc. I think you just confirmed that AT&T is NOT ready for the Bold.

I'm sitting here reading this article, just like the iPhone 3g articles and you people crack me up! When did we get sooo spoiled? A year and a half ago... we had nothing close to these types of devices! For some reason, people expect these things to be PERFECT! Who set that expectation? They are like computers, are computers perfect?? NO! Are cars perfect? NO! Are TVs perfect? NO! Are washers and dryers perfect? NO! So what makes cell phones any different? These more advanced cell phones are the first of their kind. People need to stop expecting cell phones to be perfect! IF you own any gadget, you will know.... they have issues!

AT&T is a great company. I haven't had any issues with my blackberries or iPhones. People are just idiots, and will never be happy! I live in Arizona, where... AT&T hasn't even been here for 3 years.. the past year service has gotten a lot better, however I would prefer where we are now, than 5 years ago on the TDMA network!

You guys need to relax and realize things aren't going to be perfect. IF you know about how cell phones work... unlocked phones, don't work like they should when they are locked to the carrier they were designed for. When you get an unlocked phone .. let's say it was a tmobile phone and try to use it on AT&T... you will experience a lot of dropped calls, and MMS won't send.. and a lot of other issues. Its because that device wasn't made for AT&T. Yah AT&T might carry that device, but the software was made for tmobile and the settings were made for their network.

I would rather AT&T take awhile getting the device bugs fixed .. than releasing it back in summer time, and I have nothing but problems. I give them props because it shows they are trying to help the customer out. We would probably have spent hours on the phone complaining about the device. They are saving us all the hassle.

Relax people, it will get here. I want it just as much as you guys do, and remember these devices... are electronics.. electronics are never perfect so GET USE TO THEM MESSING UP JUST LIKE YOUR TV AND COMPUTER OR XBOX!

"AT&T is a great company. I haven't had any issues with my blackberries or iPhones. People are just idiots, and will never be happy!"

In response to your above comment, speak for yourself. Don't call us stupid because AT&T is absolutely a joke in NYC. I had the iphone for 30 days, I went through 3 phones. Apple blamed AT&T and AT&T blamed Apple. 3 phones that received horrible reception, 3G or Edge. I had more dropped calls than connected. Battery life was about 5-6 hours of standby, because the phone would always be searching for service. Now, you tell us we're stupid and never happy. So, I went back to my old provider, Verizon. My blackberry now works in my home, perfectly, AT&T had "no service." The representatives did nothing about it but blame Apple's phone.

Verizon works throughout the city far better than AT&T. My battery life is excellent, even on my 2 year old blackberry. Lasts all day strong, no charging needed until nighttime.

We're just speaking our minds, AT&T is horrible here, some people get great reception, others don't, myself included. One thing is for sure though, AT&T def does not have more bars in more places. Surely not in NYC.

Would I say my verizon blackberry is perfect, its pretty damn close. Never drops calls, always stays connected, even the elevator upto my 38th floor apartment. AT&T had a year before the 3G released to fix 'bugs' and prepare the 3G network.

However the fact is that unlocked devices work just fine on other networks. GSM is GSM, and unless the radio frequencies are different, any unlocked device will work with any network.
Yes, you may have to load a "native" version of the software on the phone, and you might have to spend a bit of time tweaking settings that were not originally provisioned by the parent company, but those are the only differences. It has practically nothing to do with the hardware.
Would I suggest my mother try to use a Rogers bOlD on ATT? No. But then again I gave her an iPhone so she wouldn't have to put up with actually _learning_ about a phone and how to use it. That is the epiphany of user-friendly smartphones; the PhD (as in Push Here, Dummy). It doesn't do much, but what it does it does well and easily.
Rant about features and release dates all you will, but please don't mislead people by claiming unlocked hardware "doesn't work like it should"; things can't be painted with such a broad stroke.

Unlocked doesnt work as well as locked? Are you kidding me? They work just fine on Edge. You are probably one of those 1 in a 1000 folks who think ATT's 3G is rocking. Trust me, you are a minority.
ATT 3G has issues and most people know and have experienced that and pardon us if we cant chill or relax.

I'm not going to get into an argument with Melissa about this but I have never had any issues with unlocked devices on Rogers.

I don't think anyone is complaining about the BOLD here we are merely speculating as to why its not out on AT&T yet. And that speculation would be the network.

When I was in Vegas on labour day my Rogers Bold was useless on AT&T until I turned off 3G.

We are not spoiled Melissa. This is a site dedicated to ONE brand of phone, of course the people here, especially Kevin are going to nitpick. That's his JOB!

And I'm sorry, but dropped calls, restarts and errors are NOT something I come to expect of ANY phone I have owned or will own in the future, if you really think that this is something that comes with the territory when buying a new device then thats pretty crappy, cause you must have had a bad history of cell phones.

Yet MORE bad news from Electronista, and it's worse than shortcomings from the new BlackBerry devices this fall:
It's the attitude from RIM execs that we need to worry about. Not because the iPhone is so great, but because RIM execs are STILL taking its customers for granted and not developing the BlackBerries its capable of.

Friday, September 26th

RIM has "head in the sand" vs. iPhone

Needham and Company contributed to a steep decline in Research in Motion's share price today by warning investors that the BlackBerry creator is likely going to perform below expectations in the near future. Analyst Craig Bisagna notes that while RIM is secure in its business sales, Needham sees the company's dismissive attitude towards competitors in a financial conference call Thursday as overly optimistic and unrealistic.

The iPhone 3G and the HTC-made T-Mobile G1 are likely to boost awareness of smartphones, Bisagna says, but are too directly pitted against the Curve, Pearl and other BlackBerries to avoid competition.

"We continue to believe that the company has its head in the sand," the researcher says on behalf of Needham. "It’s delusional to think [Apple and HTC] won’t cut into BlackBerry sales as well, especially in the consumer market."

Bisagna explains that RIM's recent success has largely relied on the limitations of its competitors rather than any particular strength. Most of the BlackBerry line's rise has been driven by home users and the Pearl in particular, but for most of this time has only had to compete against unsuccessful Windows Mobile hardware. RIM had the home-oriented smartphone market "pretty much to itself," he says.

The iPhone was only a non-threat through the absence of full-speed 3G access and a too-high pricing, according to the report. Both have since been taken care of, while the developer appeal of the T-Mobile G1 is also cited as a potential factor. The G1 is also priced inexpensively for its feature set at $179 on certain contracts.

Multiple new BlackBerries due for the fall, such as the Pearl Flip and the touchscreen Storm, are said to potentially help RIM but aren't guarantees that Apple, HTC, and others won't affect BlackBerry market share.

The conference call held by RIM followed a mixed but ultimately disappointing summer quarter report from the company, which saw earnings spike but phone shipments fall slightly short of targets set out by investment research groups. The quarter was the first in which RIM had to compete against the iPhone 3G but only saw limited competition as the Apple handset shipped midway through the three-month period.

I have heard from someone that At&t is having troubles with their 3G service due to the iphone taking up too much resources. My source told me that Blackberry has their own servers for emails and web, while the iphone used At&t servers.

I don't know how true this is, but judging from what I am hearing here, this looks to be true.

I have never had these problems with my Curve 8330 from Sprint. All the new Sprint plans include free roaming, so I am covered on the only issue that people say Sprint had. Even though I hadn't had coverage problem until I moved -- but then I bought a cell booster and problem was solved. Everywhere else Sprint is great, and if I go into a basement, roaming kicks in (just incase).

This is close to the reason. Blackberry's run there "own" system, and the iPhone goes through AT&T. As an ex Curve user and current iPhone owner, I have seen both sides to this. Blackberry has their own messanger service and email service that is independent to the phone carrier. iPhone relies on AT&T to "connect". With so many iPhone 3G's on the market (and more everyday) it streached AT&T's system to the limit. I had problems with the 3G win I first got my phone too. But,the last upgrade from Apple has seemed, at least to me, to have fixed the problem. Where I had to stay on EDGE to get my battery to last anywhere near 8 hours, now I stay on 3G and can go 2 days between charges. So, it "fixed" the problem. Maybe the same is happening with the Bold. They can not risk flooding their system with another 3G phone until they get it right. It sucked having to run EDGE on this phone when it was soooo much faster on 3G. So, please keep in mind as with the iPhone 3G, this is RIM's first foray into the 3G world, and I'm sure they will get it right. And once they do, look out in the future!!!

In the forums under the 9000/Bold discussion, Phonegeek (AT&T tester of the Bold) reported that during the various tests of the Bold, that twice they have had wholesale swaps of the Bold test units at AT&T in addition to changes of OS's to resolve issues. This lends one to believe that there might be subtle hardware changes that have been made to the Bold to make it work better (i.e., more reliable) on the AT&T network. If this is the case, then the initially released Bolds on Rogers and other countries might not work well on the AT&T network even though they might have the latest OS. Maybe someone who has the inside scoop on things might be able to shed some light on the possibility of hardware differences for AT&T released Bolds (whenever they come out).

On a side note, I believe that Melissa made some good points, even though her tone might have been interpreted incorrectly by some people. There is no doubt that there have been some significant issues with the AT&T 3G network which have affected iPhone and Bolds. These seem to be compounded with the new surge of iPhones that are clogging the 3G network, hence the drop back to EDGE. This is all leading edge (read that as bleeding edge) technology, and AT&T seems to not have done a good job preparing for the 3G onslaught of the iPhones, and is probably pushing back the release of the Bold to allow them time to correct the 3G botlenecks. But in the long run, this wait is probably good because we will all end up with a better device in our hands, albeit later than what wanted.

Kevin, why didn't you just drop your radio down to GSM instead of leaving 3G on all the time? That would have probably solved a lot of your issues. Granted, you shouldn't have to do this, but your 8300 worked fine... and it's not 3G. You should have put 2 and 2 together...

No kidding JRSC...but that's not the point. The point of this wasn't "solve the problem by putting it on Edge only"... the point is that the same Bold on Rogers acted as a completely different phone on AT&T and maybe that's part of the reason we have not seen it released yet.

This is really no different then the 3G issues the iPhone had. It's AT&T's network, not the chipset. The radios are simply not out there in big numbers on the towers. The handoffs are poor and you see this. This is why every time I run into someone with a new iPhone, I suggest they drop the radio to EDGE only for the time being. The support in my area is not large for 3G and it also helps save the battery when the radio doesn't have to work hard to boost it's strength to get a good signal.

I hate having to wait longer than anyone else for the newest devices. I'm sure we all want the "new device we've been waiting for" today----not tomorrow.

That being said, priority number 1 when I do purchase a new smartphone is that everything work pretty much right out of the box. That 99% of the time when I need to use my device it has a signal and just works. This is Verizon's strong point and it's a biggie.

The great news is that people have a choice. If you want the latest-hottest device...now and you are willing to put up with some issues there's an option for you. If stability from day one is most important there's also a choice for you.

EVERYBODY WINS! YEAH!

The very best news is that the competition keeps both of them working to improve in the areas where they stink......and hopefully we all benefit.

Verizon is a great network that I woulda stuck with had I had money to burn! My bills would be 2 to 3 times higher than AT&T! And I had a lot less features than now! I may bitch & moan about the ATT Bold's delays but I'ld much rather wait than get ripped off by Verizon!

I agree and also disagree with Melissa. We are spoiled as far as cell phone technology goes. I wouldn't go out and buy something that's not tested and true--like the iphone when it first came out nor the new 3g version either. Just too many bugs, drop calls, lost e-mail and security issues just to name a few. I had AT&T and I had drop calls. My girlfriend has a Samsung Sync flip phone with AT&T and she's complaining about drop calls (we're in America's Finest City--San Diego, Ca.)at least once a day. I had a older Samsung flip phone with Verizon 2 years ago and only had 2-3 drop calls in 1 1/2 years. I've since upgraded to a Blackberry Pearl 8130 in April 08 and then to a Blackberry Curve 8330 in June 08. And had no drop calls--I mean "0"-- with either of these devices. The Curve has been out on other networks for a couple of years before it was launched on Verizon. And I think by now almost all of the bugs--if there were any--are ironed out. And it has proven to be a really reliable workhorse and companion. I just love it! A phone is a phone. A good smartphone you should at least be able to make a call and carry a conversation without having the call drop on you.(I think this should be the prime function of any phone--smart or not. And if you have that then you can enjoy the secondary functions email, sms, mms, mp3s, games etc.
I would love to have a Blackberry Bold when all the bugs are ironed out and when it comes to Verizon. Cause AT&T has bad coverage compare to Verizon.
Right now, I'm really happy with my Blackberry Curve and I'm not looking at anything else.
BTW, this is my very first crackberry post! Luv U all!

I agree and also disagree with Melissa. We are spoiled as far as cell phone technology goes. I wouldn't go out and buy something that's not tested and true--like the iphone when it first came out nor the new 3g version either. Just too many bugs, drop calls, lost e-mail and security issues just to name a few. I had AT&T and I had drop calls. My girlfriend has a Samsung Sync flip phone with AT&T and she's complaining about drop calls (we're in America's Finest City--San Diego, Ca.)at least once a day. I had a older Samsung flip phone with Verizon 2 years ago and only had 2-3 drop calls in 1 1/2 years. I've since upgraded to a Blackberry Pearl 8130 in April 08 and then to a Blackberry Curve 8330 in June 08. And had no drop calls--I mean "0"-- with either of these devices. The Curve has been out on other networks for a couple of years before it was launched on Verizon. And I think by now almost all of the bugs--if there were any--are ironed out. And it has proven to be a really reliable workhorse and companion. I just love it! A phone is a phone. A good smartphone you should at least be able to make a call and carry a conversation without having the call drop on you. I think this should be the primary and most important function of any phone--smart or not. And if you have that then you can enjoy the secondary functions email, sms, mms, mp3s, games etc.
I would love to have a Blackberry Bold when all the bugs are ironed out and when it comes to Verizon because AT&T has bad coverage--believe it or not--compare to Verizon.
Right now, I'm really happy with my Blackberry Curve and I'm not looking at anything else.
BTW, this is my very first crackberry post! Luv U all!

I don't know what happens to my Curve 8310 with AT&T. I have had NO LESS than 20 replacement handsets since my introduction to my beautiful RED BB.

No matter if I'm here in the "country" or in the city, my signal indicator turns red and says SOS. Soft reset won't cut it. Once it begins to have this problem, it continues to worsen to the point all I'm doing all day long is pulling my battery out and putting it back in.

They have done at least 3 Engineer Studies, and nothing. Well, I say nothing. They claim everything is working fine on AT&T's end and it has to do with every other carrier in the free world as to why I can't sent pic messages.

Then I was told I was in a "fringe" market. You know, where you are half way between 2 towers and it just happens to be in 2 states. I live just outside of Memphis, TN, in N. Mississippi with a tower in the same proximity in each state.

I wish I could go with the Bold when it comes out, but, I feel like if I'm already having this much trouble now with the trusty Curve, my dealings with the Bold would be on the level of Nightmare on Elm Street!!

Y'all let me know how it all works out. I'm just gonna sit back and see how ya'll do with it first!

I'm in Manhattan and I've had a very different experience with the Bold and AT&T's network. I have owned the Bold for several weeks, I went from whatever version firmware came with the Rogers Bold to .126 and now .147 and I RARELY have issues with the Bold and AT&T's 3G network in the city, if anything the phone switches to EDGE and I get full reception. It's worth noting that I also have an N95-3 and an iPhone 3G, and the only phone that had noticeable issues with 3G reception, before the firmware update, was the iPhone. The phone with the best 3G reception is hands down the N95-3, the thing works anywhere.

I don't understand why people are going so crazy about this BOLD.. WOW! It has 3g.. Verizon's Curve has had 3G since it launched. In my opinion if you really need 3G switch over to the network that knows what they are doing verizon has had 3G for a looooong time. And if it seriously is taking this long to launch the BOLD why not wait and get something better than that and get yourself the STORM from Verizon since its going to blow away the BOLD. In my opinion if you really want the 3G get yourself the curve from verizon and just purchase a theme that mimicks the theme of the BOLD or just wait for the damn STORM to come.

I have to agree with the post made by Beau79. I'm a New Yorker and have had horrible service with AT&T throughout New York and my office across the river in Jersey City. I believe it has to do with the GSM technology as I have the same issues with my TMobile even though I have no complaints about TMobile. However, my work issued Verizon BB works just fine no matter where I go, even in my office where I have no reception with the previous two. Yes, I hate Verizon but I have to say there signal is much better with their CDMA tech.

Same with my Sprint 8330. I get reception everywhere. Many times I am in the subway and my phone continously goes of. Bleh to all of you that hates CDMA, because it seems as though service wise, verizon and sprint are the only ones to get it right

Kinda funny you mention that because for the last 3 weeks I've been activating AT&T phones for customers at Best Buy in California and we've been having the same problem for all AT&T phones at least 3 days out of the week.

I've been a loyal AT&T customer for 10 years( including Cingular). It's apparent to me that AT&T is not only NOT ready for the Bold, they're simply NOT redy for 3G. The network just doesn't work with any phone.
My daughters IPHONE has had "3G" issues since release

I live in NY and have an unlocked Bold for the last 2 weeks,
the first few days I experienced these same problems. Then I upgraded to .147 and all has been fine. I did not upgrade to .150 because everything is fine right now. Hopefully it stays that way.

Are any of you really all that surprised that AT&T hasn't released the Bold yet?

With the iPhone issues and the various OS and 3G network issues that AT&T is having, the last thing they need is yet another buggy situation with another phone on the network. Please remember that this 3G network is not in NYC, Chicago and LA only. There are more than a handful of areas that need to be fixed assuming that they can find a fix for all these issues and have to test the fixes in those areas before inflicting more issues on AT&T customers.

They will not under any circumstances release the Bold for anything less than 3G because they have hyped the crap out of that feature. It's the whole reason for the Bold in the first place.

My issue is that I believe we shoulda had a choice to buy the Bold now and be on 2G while they continued to work on the 3G issue! But you're totally right! There's no way they wanna release the Bold without a working 3G since they hyped it up like it was gold or somethin!!!!!

I'm out in the middle of BFE and travel worldwide. I want a phone that works everywhere. I'm not watching Sex in the City reruns on the darn thing. I need my messages and email for work. If it takes a few seconds longer, so be it.

If the bold came out ready for Edge only until the 3G network was ready, I'd probably be buying a total of 6 of them for myself and my salesmen.

One obvious point to make about customer expectations for new mobile phones, they are high and they should be because almost any new phone has to go through an extensive testing and certification (things like pTCRB and GCF), not to mention any extra testing that a carrier also wants to carry out before it is accepted for launch.

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